How An Economy Grows And Why It Crashes

Listening to this audio book was fun. I couldn't stop myself but listening till the end before I turned on a radio in my car again. Peter and Andrew made a wonderful job reading out loud. Usually, I don't absorb information well when I hear it but rather when I read it. However, the way the book was read, it was very easy to follow and commit to a memory many important points that authors had to say on a topic of the economy. Being just an engineer and not an economist I do feel now that I know more about the economy than most of the people out there.
Peter and Andrew, thank you so much for taking time and reading the book out loud yourselves.

I enjoyed this book, although the fish metaphor got a bit stale. I had serious disagreements with the premises several times, but it gave an excellent explanation of conservative economic beliefs. The readers were very good. It is not easy, I would think, to make an economics treatise interesting enough to keep the listener's attention. These readers do so.

A short read but one that will probably stay in your mind for quite a while.

Both feet on the ground. Reality based. Easy to grasp. Entertaining story line and narration. Bravo!

Peter Schiff is a really interesting guy who is passionate about economics. This book attempts to teach what has happened in the US up to this point and and what will happen in the short term future. My problem with the book is two fold. Firstly, he starts with a metaphor about three people on an island. Unfortunately, the metaphor is extended too far and, so some extent, it seemed to make things more complicated. The second issue with the book is that I thought this was an explanation of the mechanics of economics generally, not a metaphor for the case study of the US. There were some good gems such as, "Inflation is the transfer of wealth from those who have savings in that currency to those who hold debt in that currency." But I would have like more gems like that. I guess it does do the job of simplifying some concepts, but I would have preferred him to stop the metaphor at a point and talk more about reality. Which he did to some extent, but more reality and less fishflation would have been more appealing to me. If you like Peter Schiff, or Austrian Economics, you might as well get the book. If you are new to economics, get Henry Hazlitt's book.

If you know something is going wrong with this world's economy and want to know more but get lost in the lingo and "lofty" financial terms, people and bloviating. This book is for you, this simple story tells you how the current global economy works and allows you to make judgments on your own why it failed and where it is going.

As an avid reader of almost all books dealing with economics over many years, I find this one to be the most refreshing reads in a long time. It is simple and fun to read. Not as detailed as an Economy for Dummies type book, but does manage to give a broad overview of how we got to where we are today in the economic landscape. There was nothing new for me in any of the chapters, but I still enjoyed the book for its "look at the forest, not just the trees" presentation. After years of studying the "trees", I just found this to be an entertaining recap of everything I already learned and helps me explain these things to others a little more effectively. This may be one of the best introductionary books for beginners of serious economic studies.

Its the "Pilgrims Progress" of Economics. Just a fun read on the "Dismal Science" that may actually leave you with a better understanding of our current situation than some of the current leaders in the field today.

If only every politician were forced to read this, we may not live in a world where our leaders seem to have lost all understanding of the fact that we must produce, save and only then spend & invest!

The fact that the book is read by the authors is priceless. I normally do not get into economics books but this is a great listen. A very clever narrative on economic theory that is neither too simplistic nor highbrow. I now want to know though why the politicians are telling us that the economy is so darn hard to fix.

I am loving Audible's audio books, I used to love reading but over the last few years have not had time to do it. I'm back into 'reading' now with Audible and have listened to over 25 book this year, not a lot by some standards but I was struggling to get through two in the last few years.

In this case I haven't read the print book so cannot give a definitive answer.

The whole book was great, though I would have to say the simplicity with which the story is told drew me in even more.

I enjoy listening to a book narrated by the author, you feel as if the story is being told firsthand and the emphasis is placed correctly.

Yes although I started in late so had to get some sleep, plugged the headphones in first thing in the morning though.

Spread the word, even your kids will like this one.

The Schiff brothers (fish spelled backwards?) use...fish... to explain the "economy" so that normal people can comprehend what the heck it is.

This is an easy read for the subject, and was very enjoyable. It explains things so as to give a general understanding, without delving into the boring endless details.

Starting at square one, they uses fish to represent money. This illustration becomes more complex as money backed by the gold standard becomes paper money, and government regulates its worth. All of the participating countries involved in this 'fish' story are specific nations today, and are places in historical context. (It can become a little confusing trying to keep track of the new fish names and who they actually are in the world today, especially if you are like me and do not follow the economy much.)


As the title implies, I feel the authors have accomplished what they set out to do, namely, to explain:
"How An Economy Grows, and Why it Crashes".



Suggestion: Skip the intro.(takes up the first chapter space, chapter 1 starts as 'chapter 2').
Listen to it after the fish story instead.